1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid ejection apparatus that ejects liquid, and a liquid storage portion of the liquid ejection apparatus.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, for example, an ink-jet recording apparatus that is a liquid ejection apparatus is provided with an ink-jet recording head. Further, the ink-jet recording head is provided with a number of nozzles for discharging ink onto a recording sheet, etc. Fine ink droplets are discharged onto a recording medium from the nozzles, thereby recording records images, such as desired characters or figures.
Further, the ink-jet recording apparatus is provided with a cleaning mechanism for sealing the above nozzles to prevent the viscosity of the ink within the nozzles from increasing, or for removing the viscous ink that causes poor discharge, by sucking ink, etc.
The above-mentioned cleaning mechanism stores the sucked ink (hereinafter referred to as “waste ink”) within a waste ink tank in an ink-jet recording apparatus through a tube (hereinafter referred to as “pump tube”). The pump tube becomes a passage of the waste ink, which is an example of liquid, to the waste ink tank, and becomes an example of a liquid passage. The waste ink tank is an example of a liquid storage portion.
Further, the waste ink tank has a housing that is a main body of the waste ink tank, and is constructed such that an absorbing portion that absorbs waste ink is arranged within a housing of the tank. Also, the waste ink tank has a construction in which waste ink is absorbed and held by the absorbing portion.
Conventionally, in order to prevent the ink-jet recording apparatus from being soiled with ink, a construction in which a leakage ink receptacle for receiving waste ink is arranged on a waste ink tank is disclosed (for example, Patent Document 1).    Patent Document 1: JP-A-2004-188629 (FIG. 1, etc.)
However, waste ink may remain in the vicinity of the outlet of the pump tube that is a passage of waste ink to the waste ink tank, and bubbles may be entrained within the waste ink remaining in the pump tube. In such a case, when the waste ink tank is detached, there is a possibility that the bubbles within waste are burst, and the waste ink is scattered to surroundings, thereby polluting surroundings. Further, if bubbles are entrained in waste ink, the apparent amount of the waste ink increases due to the bubbles when the waste ink is discharged to and absorbed by the absorbing material. Thus, the waste ink may overflow, and may soil the ink-jet recording apparatus.
Moreover, the surface of the waste ink tank that faces the tube, i.e., the open face of the absorbing material of the waste ink tank may be soiled with the waste ink.
In this case, if the waste ink tank is detached from the liquid ejection apparatus in order to replace the waste ink tank, there is a possibility that a user may touch the surface of the waste ink tank that faces the tube, i.e., the open face of the absorbing material of the waste ink tank, and the user may be soiled with the waste ink.